Joseph WielzenThe Etowah, Tennessee, man charged in the 2017 rape and murder of an 18-year-old Etowah woman was indicted by a grand jury in its July session last week, just more than two years after the crime.
Joseph R. Wielzen, 19, was indicted July 16 on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated rape in the death of Kelsey N. Burnette, whose body was found by a passerby July 4, 2017, in a yard on Charles Street in a downtown Etowah neighborhood. The body was identified a few days later.
Wielzen will be arraigned on the charges Aug. 5 in McMinn County Circuit Court before Criminal Court Judge Sandra Donaghy, circuit court officials said. Wielzen's attorney, Cleveland lawyer Andrew Brown, couldn't be reached for comment.
According to allegations in the indictment, Wielzen was armed with a knife when he raped Burnette.
Wielzen was released on the reduced bond of $30,000 in September 2018 after his case was transferred to adult court. He was not required to wear an ankle monitor, but he was ordered to not use or possess illegal intoxicants, commit any new criminal offenses or have contact with Burnette's family, court records show.
Kelsey N. BurnetteIn May of this year, while he was free on that bond, Wielzen was arrested along with another man after they were identified as occupants of a dark Jeep Cherokee from which eggs were hurled at a couple of cars and a house in town. The Jeep was found by police with egg running down the window. Wielzen and the other man were charged with four counts of vandalism.
In June, Wielzen's bond on the murder and rape charges was revoked because of that arrest and he has remained incarcerated since.
Burnette, who graduated from McMinn Central High School in 2017 and worked at the local McDonald's, had been reported missing by her family on July 1, 2017. She was last seen around 5 a.m. that day, walking through Etowah.
The victim's mother, Sissy Burnette, told the Times Free Press in September 2017 that she knew her daughter "didn't just walk off."
She said her daughter's car was still at home with all her belongings in it, including her wallet and clothes. She said Kelsey would not ordinarily have gone out in the dark alone, referring to her last being seen walking through town before dawn three days before she was found dead.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook.com/benbenton1.